World War One Psychics [Powers]

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Þorkell

They have ESP and still screw up and sent Franz Ferdinand to his doom? They didn't get a "Don't go to Sarajevo" memo? Or one which says to arrest Gavrilo Pricip and associates?

On the other hand, if they want a war it becomes still easier to arrange it. And they very possibly wanted a war.

Or you can go a sinister conspiracy and say the pro-slav archduke was sacrificed intentionally to keep the empire together.

How is Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf still in his position? No psychic powers to reveal his incompetence?

because he has psychics telling his staff to bring winter coats to the soldiers in the Carpathians, of course. Its hard to look incompetent when playing in save-scum mode.

[AlexanderHowl]

Sacrificing the Archduke to perverse the Empire would probably be acceptable, especially if the psychics forsee worse consequences if he lives. Of course, Hapsburg inbreeding may result in innate psionic resistance spreading among the royalty, preventing the psychics from accurately telling the future of the royals (they would know war is coming, but they would not know they events that caused the war).

[Anders]

It may even be forbidden forbidden to tell the future of the royals. Yes, that would be monumentarily stupid but it wouldn't be the first time royal privilege overruled common sense.

[AlexanderHowl]

Fortune telling has been illegal in a number of societies, so it would not be an unreasonable position.

[TGLS]

Well, either Redl is caught or he tells the Russians everything, I suppose.

[AlexanderHowl]

Redl would have likely been caught long before he could give critical information to the Russians (as soon as telepaths became reliable, mind probes would have likely been used against every high level individual outside of the imperial family).

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Sacrificing the Archduke to perverse the Empire would probably be acceptable, especially if the psychics forsee worse consequences if he lives.

Originally Posted by TGLS

Well, either Redl is caught or he tells the Russians everything, I suppose.

There's a possibility that we have nested conspiracies here. The first really suspicious event is the suicide of Crown Prince Rudolf in early 1889. If that was the result of mental manipulation, it is clearly an anti-liberal plot within the Empire. If someone behind it then influenced other members of the nobility to look into psychic powers, the OP's scenario could emerge "naturally." But if that was happening, why would they leave an idiot like Conrad in charge of the Army?

[TGLS]

Well, that's the conundrum; it happens often enough for Redl to give a description of how the process works (at least from a Layman's view), or it doesn't and he goes undetected for a little while. Using Telereceive 3 with a skill of 11 (adds up to 50 pts exactly) from Psionic Powers as a guide, it would probably take a few hours per person to check them, so more than weekly would seem unlikely.

Besides Redl, the problem of a weak collective identity would remain for Austria-Hungary. Mercenary or Nationalist Psychics may betray AH to Advance their own agenda, and the higher concentration of Transylvanians would probably be very concerning.

[AlexanderHowl]

Well, it would depend on the loyalties of the organization that controls the psychics. If the psychics belong to an organization that is loyal to the House of Lorraine, then you may have telepaths reprogramming new psychics as they come in through the use of Mind Control (Slow and Sure). Regardless of their original loyalties, the psychics would become loyal to the House of Lorraine before anything else.

[D10]

The Black Hand could also be connected with psychic powers, maybe thats how they maintained their plot secret, assuming he was not "sacrificed"